Well, Pat and I more or less managed to get our little quarrel resolved. Well, sort of. I had to practically hold a gun in his face before he'd start talking. Once I pointed out that he couldn't actually name a social situation in which I'd cried off from going with him, he calmed down a bit. We also talked about his recent moodiness. He is basically sick of the pain, sick of not having a job, sick of never leaving the house. I think the accident with the bus also knocked his confidence a bit, hence he hasn't asked to borrow the car recently instead of me taking it to work. There's just fuck all I can do about this, which is frustrating. Looking forward to him having the op on his back; at least this should relieve the pain somewhat. And time should help with regaining his confidence in driving.

Anyway, in the midst of all this, I head Simon shouting in pain. He said he had fallen out of his bed and landed smack on his computer desk, right on his ear. He was crying and saying his ear really hurt inside. I had a look but couldn't see any blood or discharge. I phoned NHS Direct. The nurse I spoke to went through the usual run of questions ("Do you notice any deformities or bones sticking out?" - "Well, if I did, I hardly think I'd be phoning you guys!" - but I suppose they have to ask these things...) and she suggested that we take him up to the Children's to get him checked out. She said, "I know it's late, but better to take him now than at 3 in the morning." Pat and I kind of looked at each other and decided to give him a couple of Disprol and hope he went through the night and would be better in the morning.

So he seemed to doze off okay, and we settled down to watch Hannibal on ITV, but about half past midnight he woke up wailing again, really crying with pain, very agitated. He said it felt like someone was stabbing inside his ear with a needle. I said, "OK let's get you to hospital." He said, "Mum, I don't want a burger!" - he thought I said McDonalds. Amusing, but also worrying as I thought his hearing was going. So we got dressed and piled into the car. Got into the hospital car park, let him out of the car and he immediately started upchucking everywhere. About 5 piles of puke now decorate the Children's Hospital car park. Sorry Mr Maintenance Man!

Got inside, luckily at that time of night there was nobody else waiting, so we saw a doc straight away. She did a few tests - BP, temp, lights in the eyes, etc. She said she didn't think his eardrum was damaged, but she wanted to keep him in for obs because of the puking - could be indicative of concussion.

Got him into the obs ward and on a trolley, where he fell straight to sleep. I was also a bit worried because he hadn't been very communicative with the doctor, whereas normally he's a real chatterbox, even in pain, but I think now that was just tiredness. Also the puking could have had something to do with the entire tin of rice pudding and 2 doughnuts he'd managed to pack away for pudding. (Well, he had only had beans on toast for tea, and he's going through a growing phase, alright?)

So the nurse came in every half hour to check on him. He seemed okay but threw up another couple of times, even though there wasn't really anything left to come out. Pat went off to move the car at one point - the fucking car park there is pay and display 24 hours, the fuckers! - and Simon woke and asked, "Where's my dad?" thinking Pat had gone home, bless him. Eventually about 3am the doctor reassessed him and said he should be okay to go home but any change we should bring him back or call an ambulance.

So we got home around 3.30am and all went straight to bed. He seems okay this morning, although he looks pale and said he felt a bit "bleugh" but that could be from the late night. Doctor said he could also have a bit of a virus, as he has had a bit of a cough and cold, and the bang on the ear could have irritated it if the ear was already blocked up. The pain is gone now anyway, which is a relief.

Well it's nice and sunny here today so Pat and I are going off to do some work in the garden, which has needed attention for about 12 months :-\ We're going to have to strim before mowing...

Time for an update while I try out some lightsets in Poser... Love the UD lighting but it take for-fucking-ever to render.

God... now like a fucking nerd I am pissing about with the Python script buttons. Talk about taking an hour to try and save myself 10 seconds... oh well, I learned something along the way!

Anyway, here's the last couple of weeks in short form.

( A Big Row )

( Fertility Decision )

( You Little Arsonist )

( A Proposal )

So that's about it really, I could do with a nice quiet week now. However given that I took (I think) 10 escalations today, and did a disciplinary which was a potential dismissal, and have another to do tomorrow, I doubt I'll get it at work. Let's hope it's peaceful on the home front...